Photo Courtesy of Steve Starer, Flickr Creative Commons
After a rough 0-2 start, many critics could agree that the New York Giants were starting to look like the same team that started last year’s season with six consecutive losses. Now heading into week five, Eli Manning, quarterback, is slowly getting used to his new offense, with the help of offensive coordinator, Ben McAdoo.
With their first win of the season in week three, things were beginning to turn around for the Giants. One may even argue that toward the end of their week two loss to the Cardinals, Manning was starting to feel the groove of the same offense that made Aaron Rodgers, Packers' quarterback, so successful.
“If you’ve followed the Giants, in their recent history they have not had tremendous regular season success,” said senior Mike Hausch. “They were 10-6 and a playoff wild card when they won the Super Bowl against the undefeated Patriots in 2007. In 2011, they were 9-7 in the regular season before beating the Patriots again for another title.”
This season, Manning has taken advantage of a new receiver, Larry Donnell, as one of the featured players in this new offensive scheme. Donnell is a second year player that is really starting to come into his own during an era in which tight ends have become just as crucial of a position to the wide receivers.
Giants' head coach Tom Coughlin has three Super Bowl wins, two of which are with the Giants with Manning at the helm. Despite their success together, it seems that both Manning and Coughlin have often found themselves in the hot seat, only to totally redeem themselves with a crucial win.
It seems that these two are at it again, looking like a force to be reckoned with, especially with their most recent win against the Redskins on Thursday. The defense had four interceptions against the young quarterback Kirk Cousins and three the previous week against quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick.
A big reason behind the success of this year's Giants team is the running game, something that was seriously lacking last year. Rashaad Jennings, previously a backup for Darren McFadden, has found a new home in which he gets the majority of the carries. When you are carrying the ball for four plus yards per carry it's hard to be denied carries.
Manning has proven over the years that with an effective running game, he can run a very productive offense.
“I have always seen Eli as an elite quarterback in the league. Now that he’s getting some support from the running game, he’s going to get even better,” Hausch said.
With a much more productive offense, the Super Bowl question is not as far-fetched as everyone had thought coming into the season. McAdoo said coming into the season that Manning would have a 70 percent completion rate. This claim was hard to support, but after this week's win it seems much more probable.
Look for the Giants to continue to get better as the team continues to learn this new offense.
“The Giants have a habit of getting hot at the right time,” said senior Joon Row. “Until they are officially eliminated, I always see the Giants as a threat.”
sdarian@ramapo.edu
